ON THIS DAY NOVEMBER 11

1838 Andries Pretorius arrives at the laagers on the banks of the Klein-tugela in reply to a plea for help against the Zulus.

1895 British Bechuanaland (the country of the Tswana) is annexed to the Cape.

1880 Australian outlaw Ned Kelly is hanged. 1918 At 5am, in Marshal Foch’s railway car in the Forest of Compiegne, the Armistice between the Allied and Central Powers was signed, silencing the guns of World War I, effective at 11am, the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. In many countries, a moment of silence in memory of the millions of fallen soldiers is still observed. It began in Cape Town when businessman JA Edgar suggested that his church observe a period of silence for the many South Africans who fell during the Battle of the Somme. Later, Cape Town mayor (later Sir) Harry Hands, whose son was killed on the Western Front, took it further, initiating a period of silence to remember sacrifices made on the battlefields of Europe. Jock of the Bushveld author

Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, whose son also died on the Western Front, wrote a letter that reached England’s king, proposing that two minutes of silence become part of Armistice Day commemorations. The proposal was accepted and so began the tradition during remembrance occasions – a unique South African gift to the world, a gesture that in deep solitude remembers the end of all wars.

1943 The Nazis running the Theresienstadt concentration camp torture 47 000 Jews, forcing them to stand exposed for 8 hours in the bitterly cold November rain.

1965 Rhodesia declares UDI.

1973 Egypt and Israel signed a cease-fire. 2000 155 skiers and snowboarders die when a cable car catches fire in Kaprun, Austria.

2015 The Canadian city of Montreal begins the controversial dumping of raw sewage (8bn litres) into the St Lawrence River.

2018 Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba sets a new record for their Singles Day sale – $1 billion in 85 seconds, $30.8bn in 24 hours. 2019 More than 120 bush fires cause Australia to declare a state of emergency in two states with a catastrophic threat issued for the Sydney region. | THE HISTORIAN